Strap coupler



July 21, 1936. L. ROSEMAN 2,048,408

STRAP COUPLER Filed July 20, 1954 /0 1 INVENTOR' Leo oseman, BY

7 ATTQRNEY Patented July 21, 1936 ant-assures;

V fls'mnr conrilsn' s Leo Roseman, Newark, Application July 20; 1934, Serial, No. 736,142 4 Claims. (Cl'. 1 :-2d).ls' a This' invention relates, generally, to meansro'r detachably connecting straps suchas those used inwom ens clothing, and the invention has ref; erence more particularly to a novel construction 5 of strap coupler,,the saidcouplenbeing adapted tdbe rea'dilyattached to straps for reliably in? terconnecting the same. if 1 Strap couplers or connections heretoiore used in womens clothes, such as brassieres and other h under 7 garments, have quite generally been more or less bulky so that the same are uncomfortable to wearand also tendto distort or disf gure the outer garment of the wearer. Also, many of these couplers orco nnecting meansare difiicult to fasten and unfasten and at times the same become unfastened accidentally which is highly undesirable, A s The principal bject of the present inventicn is to provide a novel strap coupler that ispositive inits holding action, will not disengage acciden tally and is substantially fiat and of b and ar so as nli n the lans fi s 912? e t straps n at sb ssinf at a a n t e back or other part of the body oirthe-wearer as w l a to present a ati tocot riri u e ments, the said coupler being adapted to enable he ea y l d a us ment thefinnnsfid straps therethrough when desiredg vhereby the co p enables e appa el empl n he ame t to automatically accommodate the 100 contour andmovements of thewearer. M 5, q Another object ofi the present ir-rvention lies in the provision of the novel strapycoupler; oi the above character that is readily engaged and dis; engaged, the said coupler having, interlocking means for preventing theaccidental disengagee ment of'thesame. 1 t n t Still another object of the present invention is to provide a .novel strap coupler oil the :above 40 character that is of simple, rugged construction and dependable in use. l P Other objects of this inventiomnot-at this time more particularly enumeratedgwill be clearly un derstood from the following detailed description of the same, j I 1' The invention is'clearlyillustrated inithe accompanyingdrawing, inwhichz i @Fig. 1 15 a fragmentary view ihelevtjationgil-f lustrating the novel couplerof the presentiinven tion used for connecting looped strap nend portions. t t

Fig.4 2 is a plan view of the connection Shown in Fig. 1. t M a. L, f 55 1 Fig. '31s an enlarged'sectional view takenlaiong line 3 3 in Big. 1, looking in the direction of the arrows 4 is'airear viewbt the structure shown in 18- t l fries 5, 6,""7,"8"and19 illustrate the manner of 5- connecting. or disconnecting the strap coupler. .jni gvio illustrates thestrap coupler adapted for enabling the adjustment {or ,the' length of the strapsconnected'thereby; s

Figs'.12 and lfi 'are enlarged'views of the couplerl members. ,1 s 1 I l l Sin'iilar characters of reference are employed in said'views, m" indicate icorre sponding parts. 15 Q Referring now to the' said drawing, the refersns n inral and]? des n e nosed strap d. nn n m nt rc nne t d by the novel strap coupler of this invention. This strap coupler comprisestwosubstantiallyflat members 3 20 sns nsi nment (i substantially snsi anshss a is Pr ded with rectangular; apertnre or slot B for loosely receiving the strap-l thestrap ll beingfreadily slidable through slot 5 as ,wherr adjusting a garment upon the b dl eiihs-weerst a Pier nsmbsr Pro i ed substantially midwayot its height; with a hook 6 the said hook being-shown Q5 iql'med hy turning or folding over atahproyided on member 3. The: spacing of the:. flat ;foldegl;over portion of hook 6 from the maimbqdyc; member 3 is slightly greater than the thickness of coupler "member 4 for accommod t n t s la terin mben C l member 4 iels ;1$. ib$ 1y ec a ap and has a rectangular aperture or slot .I therein for os l ress ringth st nthwh strap is a ilylslidahle through slotl as when adjusting a carm ntn cnu n bn ysni lin e r l One end ;of slot L is transversely enlarged at 8 toprovide anreceiving opening for the hook 6 as further appe r. .1 th d me ns o re e ving opening 8 being ,g-reater than the dimensions of he hoo sea .t nab e th n v insertion and; removal elf-the latter throughthis opening. Receivin ppening 8; communicates with a locking apertureor slot-J0. Locking aperture 10 has an inner edge 1 l extending parallel to the edge 12 of the receiving opening 8, Inner edge II is inwardly ofiset from; the edge ll a distance 5 slightly greater thant the. thickness of the. bight ppntio'n ;9 of hook fi, ,therebyienablin this hookmto he slidgfrom receiving; opening ,8 into locking aperturenliflsziLockmgaperture lfl'has an outer edgezlsfextending substantially parallel tcedge I 2 and to edge I I. Outer edge [3 is outwardly oiTset from receiving opening edge l2, thereby forming a transverse lock or stop shoulder l4 between these edges. The outer edge I3 is slightly longer than the height of hook 6 and the width of stop shoulder I4 is substantially equal to the thickness of the bight portion 9 of the hook 6, so that with hook 6 inserted into locking aperture Ill as shown in Fig. 1 the same is confined between stop shoulder I4 and the bottom of aperture .IO, thereby preventing 'vertical movement of the hook 6 and hence preventing its accidental disconnection from coupler member 4. The tension or pull of straps l and 2 upon coupler membars 3 and 4 serves to hold the bight 9 of the hook in engagement with outer edge. I3Ioflock-i ing aperture I0. g 7

Assuming that it is desired to' disconnect coupler members 3 and 4, these two members'are, moved toward one another as indicated by the arrows'in Fig. 5', thereby causing the bight 9 of hook 6 to disengage outer edge I3 and to move into abutting relation to'the inner edge ll of the locking aperture l0. During this movementof the-hook 6, its upper edge moved out of engagement with the stop shoulder I 4 so that the coupler member 3 may now 'be'moved upwardly with respect to coupler member 4 as illustrated in Fig.

6. Continued upward -m0vement' of coupler member 3'will cause the bight 9 of hook 6 to pass out of locking aperture H] and into receiving opening 8. The'coupler members 3'and 4 may now be pushed further toward each-other as shown by thearrows in Fig. 7 sothat the book 6 disengages the coupler member 4. The coupler members may now be completely separated by merely moving the same apart as shown by the arrows in Fig. 8, thereby disconnecting the straps Iand-2.

if it is desired to again connect the coupler members 3 and 4 it is merely necessaryto insert hookB into receiving opening 8 and then move the coupler members apart slightly so that the bight 9 of hook G'engages edge l2 of the receiving opening. Coupler member 3' is then moved downwardly with respect to coupler member 4, so that hook 6 enters locking aperture l0.- Continued downward'movement of the hook causes the sameto ride-ofi of edge|2 and to engage the edge l3of the-locking aperture, the shoulder l4 and the bottom edge'of the locking aperture l0 acting in connection with-the tension of straps l and 2 to confine and lock the hook 6 in place and preventing accidental disconnection of the same from coupler member-4'regardless of the movements of the wearer. r

It'willbe noted that the coupler members 3 and 4 can only be separated by a compound movement of these members, i. e.,- first these membersmust-be moved toward each-other, then vertically with respect to one another, then further-toward each other and then transversely apart-from one another. This compound movement, though easily performed manually, is substantially impossible of execution accidentally especially since the straps connected by the cou pler'are usually under slight tension, so that in use it is found that the novel coupler does not become disengaged accidentally. In-some instances it is desirable to adjust the length of one or both of the straps connectedby the coupler, in which case the width of either or both of thecoupler members 3 and 4, is increased and the same provided withan additional strap aperturer 'l'his is illustrated in Figs. 10'and. 11

wherein the coupler member 3 is provided with an additional strap aperture I5 so that the end portion l6 of the strap I may be adjusted or passed through apertures 5 and i5 to vary the effective length of strap I. Corrugations I! may also be provided on the coupler member 3' to aid in preventing accidental slipping of strap I through apertures 5 and I5.

If desired, instead of having the strap end portions I and2 looped through the strap apertures of the coupler-members, resulting in two runs of the strap material being connected to each coupler member, but one run of strap material may be connected to either or both coupler members, if desired, by stitching the strap end portion to the As'many changes could be made in the above construction and many apparently widely different embodiments of this invention could be made without departing from the scope thereof, as defined by the following claims, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawing shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

I claim:

1. A strap coupler of the character described comprising twosubstantially flat coupler members, said coupler members having means for adjustably connecting the same to straps, one of said coupler members having a hook and the other of said coupler members having an aperture therein for receiving said hook, said last named coupler member having a locking aperture communicating with said receiving aperture, said locking aperture having a recessed portion of a height equal to that of said hook and a width equal to the thickness of the bight portion of said hook for retaining the latter therein, whereby movement of said hook from said receiving aperture into said locking, aperture serves to secure said coupler members together and against accidental separation.

A strap coupler of the character described comprising two substantially flat coupler members," said coupler members having means for adjustably 'connecting'the same to straps, one of said coupler members having a hook and the other of' said coupler members having an aperture therein of greatersize than the turned over portion-of said hook for receiving the latter by transverse movement thereinto, said last named coupler member having a locking aperture communicating with said receiving aperture, said locking aperture having anlouter edge portion of a length equal to the height of the bight of said hook, said outervedge portion being offset from said receiving aperture thereby providing a looking. recess having a stop shoulder ,for engaging and retaining said hook therein.

3. A strap coupler of the character described comprisingtwo substantially flat coupler members, said coupler members having means for adjustably connecting the same to straps, one of said coupler members having a hook and the other of said coupler members having an aperture therein of greater size than the turned over portion of said hook for receiving the latter by moving said'coupler members together while 70.

the turned over portion of said, hook and arranged v to receive said hook from said receiving aperture, said locking aperture having an outer edge portion, outwardly offset from said receiving aperture, said outer edge portion being of a length equal to the height of the bight portion of said hook for receiving the latter and cooperating with said receiving aperture so as to require a compound movement of said coupler members when separating the latter.

4. A strap coupler of the character described comprising two substantially flat coupler members, said coupler members having means for suitably connecting the same to straps, one of said coupler members having a hook and the other of said coupler members having an aperture therein of greater size than the turned over portion of said hook for receiving the latter, said last named coupler member having a locking aperture communicating with said receiving aperture, said locking aperture being of smaller size than the turned over portion of said hook and arranged to receive said hook from said receiving aperture, said locking aperture having an outer edge portion thereof of a length equal to the height of the bight of said hook and outwardly offset from the mouth portion of said locking aperture a distance equal to the thickness of the bight portion of said hook, to provide stop means to prevent accidental escape of said hook and consequent separation of said coupler members, said locking aperture having an inner edge portion inwardly ofiset from the outer edge of said receiving aperture a distance substantially equal to the thickness of the bight portion of said hook to enable the entrance of the hook by endwise movement of the same into said locking aperture.

LEO ROSEMAN. 

